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http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/08/31/1788654-sun.html
When the Scugog Standard hits the streets of Port Perry this morning, it will carry a front-page story that cries out for national attention -- namely the tale of the municipal union filing a grievance against a local councillor for lowering the town hall flag to half mast following the death of yet another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan.
The optics, unquestionably, scream of pettiness regarding money trumping both principle and patriotism.
Arguing otherwise would be an uphill battle.
In Scugog Township, it is supposedly part of a unionized municipal employee's contract to raise and lower the Canadian flag on township properties, a role supposedly written into CUPE Local 1785-01's collective agreement with the municipality northeast of Whitby.
OVERTIME
And that, in fine-print terms, ultimately translates into the fact that overtime must be paid to whichever unionized employee lowers the flag should a Canadian soldier happen to die during off-hours, on the weekend or during a statutory holiday such as the upcoming Labour Day.
A volunteer, of course, would lower the flag for a fallen Canadian soldier for one reason and one reason only.
He would do it because it is the right thing to do.
When word came down in mid-August that Edmonton-based medic, Cpl. Andrew James Eykelenboom, had been killed in a fiery suicide attack south of Kandahar, Scugog Councillor Lynn Philip Hodgson, author of seven historical war books, including Inside Camp X, decided to do the right thing and lower the flag to half mast.
It was a Saturday.
The municipal office in Port Perry was closed and therefore no union employees were on site.
"It only takes two minutes to lower a flag," says Hodgson.
And that's all he would say -- citing his position as a town councillor as restricting him from commenting further until the union grievance is dealt with.
Earlier this year, at a time when Parliament Hill was debating flying flags at half mast following the controversial rise in war casualties in Afghanistan, Hodgson moved a motion, passed by council, to lower the municipal flags when a Canadian soldier is killed in action.
'NOT ABOUT MONEY'
No union hackles were apparently raised at the time.
Then, after the recent death of Cpl. David Braun in yet another suicide bombing in Afghanistan, Scugog Standard editor Rik Davie happened to ask Hodgson why the flag outside the town hall wasn't flying at half mast.
And that's when he learned of the grievance.
"The union tells me that this is not about money," says Davie, who wrote today's front-page story in the Standard. "But if it is not about money, what is it about?
"Is it about the $120 in overtime, or whatever it is, for lowering the Canadian flag on a weekend? Or is it about honouring the sacrifice of a Canadian soldier?" he asks.
"If it is about honouring a soldier, then why the grievance?"
When the Scugog Standard hits the streets of Port Perry this morning, it will carry a front-page story that cries out for national attention -- namely the tale of the municipal union filing a grievance against a local councillor for lowering the town hall flag to half mast following the death of yet another Canadian soldier in Afghanistan.
The optics, unquestionably, scream of pettiness regarding money trumping both principle and patriotism.
Arguing otherwise would be an uphill battle.
In Scugog Township, it is supposedly part of a unionized municipal employee's contract to raise and lower the Canadian flag on township properties, a role supposedly written into CUPE Local 1785-01's collective agreement with the municipality northeast of Whitby.
OVERTIME
And that, in fine-print terms, ultimately translates into the fact that overtime must be paid to whichever unionized employee lowers the flag should a Canadian soldier happen to die during off-hours, on the weekend or during a statutory holiday such as the upcoming Labour Day.
A volunteer, of course, would lower the flag for a fallen Canadian soldier for one reason and one reason only.
He would do it because it is the right thing to do.
When word came down in mid-August that Edmonton-based medic, Cpl. Andrew James Eykelenboom, had been killed in a fiery suicide attack south of Kandahar, Scugog Councillor Lynn Philip Hodgson, author of seven historical war books, including Inside Camp X, decided to do the right thing and lower the flag to half mast.
It was a Saturday.
The municipal office in Port Perry was closed and therefore no union employees were on site.
"It only takes two minutes to lower a flag," says Hodgson.
And that's all he would say -- citing his position as a town councillor as restricting him from commenting further until the union grievance is dealt with.
Earlier this year, at a time when Parliament Hill was debating flying flags at half mast following the controversial rise in war casualties in Afghanistan, Hodgson moved a motion, passed by council, to lower the municipal flags when a Canadian soldier is killed in action.
'NOT ABOUT MONEY'
No union hackles were apparently raised at the time.
Then, after the recent death of Cpl. David Braun in yet another suicide bombing in Afghanistan, Scugog Standard editor Rik Davie happened to ask Hodgson why the flag outside the town hall wasn't flying at half mast.
And that's when he learned of the grievance.
"The union tells me that this is not about money," says Davie, who wrote today's front-page story in the Standard. "But if it is not about money, what is it about?
"Is it about the $120 in overtime, or whatever it is, for lowering the Canadian flag on a weekend? Or is it about honouring the sacrifice of a Canadian soldier?" he asks.
"If it is about honouring a soldier, then why the grievance?"